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Overlay checkout

Overlay checkout is the quickest way to integrate Paddle with your website or app. Turn any element into a checkout link, letting Paddle handle the entire checkout process.

Integrate Paddle with a few lines of code using overlay checkout. Customers signup and pay for subscriptions using an overlay.

Using overlay checkout, you can:

  • Integrate Paddle quickly with a few lines of code.
  • Present an optimized checkout experience, where customers can sign up and pay without leaving your site.
  • Create checkout links using HTML data attributes — perfect for CMS-based sites.
  • Use Paddle.js events to build advanced checkout experiences.
Illustration of an overlay checkout. The payment method form is open, with buttons for Apple Pay and PayPal along with the card details form underneath. The items list shows one item for 'Professional plan', with tax and totals underneath. The total overall is $3600, displayed at the top-left of the checkout.

How it works

Overlay checkout works by showing an overlay with all the checkout details. You can turn any element on your page into a trigger for a checkout overlay.

The overlay includes all of your checkout functionality including the items list, totals, and options for changing what's on the checkout.

Paddle automatically creates a subscription when a checkout completes, ready for you to provision.

Customer journey

  1. Illustration showing the outline of a pricing page. The middle tier is called 'Premium' and costs $200. There is a buy now button in blue.

    Customer launches overlay checkout

    You can turn any element on your page into a Paddle Checkout button, passing items or an existing transaction to Paddle.js to say what the checkout is for.

  2. Illustration showing Paddle Checkout. It's an off-center version of the overlay checkout. The information about items on the right-hand side is grayed out. On the left, there are fields for email, country, and ZIP code. There is a blue 'Continue' button at the bottom.

    Customer enters their details

    The first screen asks customers for their email, country, and (in some regions) ZIP or postal code. You can prefill this information to skip this step entirely.

  3. Illustration showing Paddle Checkout. It's an off-center version of the overlay checkout. It shows page two of checkout, with a PayPal button at the top and card payment form underneath. There is a blue 'Pay' button at the bottom.

    Customer chooses a payment method

    Customers land on a card payment form, or they can choose to pay with PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or other local payment method.

  4. Illustration showing Paddle Checkout. It's an off-center version of the overlay checkout. It shows the payment success screen, which has a large green checkmark in the center and some text underneath. The text is represented by gray blocks.

    Checkout completed!

    Paddle routes every payment to the best acquirer for that sale to get the best possible chance of success. Customers land on a success page that you can choose.

  5. Illustration showing a created subscription in Paddle. This is an abstract illustration, rather than a representation of an interface. In the background is a sheet with a user icon, recurring amount, MasterCard symbol, and an active tag. It's meant to represent a subscription page in the Paddle web app. In the foreground is a card that says 'webhook received: new subscription for premium plan.' It's meant to represent a subscription.created webhook event.

    Paddle creates a subscription

    Paddle automatically creates a subscription for the customer, ready for you to provision. The payment method the customer used is held on file for renewals or subscription changes.

Next steps